Wednesday, April 22, 2009

This is from the brand spankin' new Puck Daddy chat with Alex Semin and Simeon Varlamov. We'll just disregard the Semin part (mainly because he doesn't antagonize Crosby) and focus on Varlamov's explanation, reaction, and thoughts about the whole Avery situation. Keep in mind, this interview is conducted in Russian, and then translated from Russian to English.

Q. Tell us about the episode with Avery.

VARLAMOV: Well, everyone knows that he skates around trying to get everyone fired up. And I know about it. We talked about it at the team meetings as well. That's why I do not pay attention to such incidents. Yes, I know and actually saw how he was swinging his stick in front of Brodeur. I am ready for his provocations.

It appeared that you hit him with your stick when he fell on you.

No, I just touched him a little bit. And that's it. But he reacted with a lot of emotion. He started yelling something. Of course, I didn't understand half of it. And then, when the incident appeared to be over, he skated to me and hit me in the face.

What exactly did he tell you?

Well, I don't want to tell the media what he said. But he said some unflattering things.

And then he hit you and it appeared that it even moved your helmet a bit.

Yes, it did. He hit me with some force.

It looked like he hit you really hard.

It was a good [punch]. It didn't feel nice. But there's nothing serious. A game is a game.

And you didn't react at all!

No. Why should I react? My main objective is to catch pucks and concentrate on my own game and not to notice what he does.

You just know Sean Avery is sitting at his penthouse, amidst his Vogues, Glamours, and Good Housekeeping's, Googling himself, only to see the quote "No. Why should I react?" and throwing a shit fit that would make Tim Thomas blush.

If you caught any of game 3, or watched that video, you'd have seen that Varlamov completely and utterly ignored any "provocation" by Avery over the span of the entire game. The fact that Simeon realizes this is absolutely key, and managed to keep his calm and wits about him, has to kill Avery. Not this kind of kill Avery, but the egotistical "Look at Me" Avery that Rangers fans love.

Avery played fantastic in Game 1, decent in game 2, and horrendous in game 3, notice the collective shift in how the Caps played over those same 3 games. It'll be interesting to see a) if Torts lessens Avery's ice time b) how Avery reacts and c) to see if all the recent coverage and stardom has gone to Varlamov's head (he still is only 20).

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Fact: BanginPanger is not meant as an insult to the one and only Darren Pang, nor do I claim to be him. The views and opinions presented on BanginPanger are of my own, and no other namesake of the site, the NHL, Buffalo Sabres, Washington Capitals, or anyone else.